Dreams of a dead man
by Javael
Summary: Sequel to story of a new breed. Alllllllll about your fav hive crazy warlock, the hypocrite himself Ben! Written by Amazing Chapeau Published by Javael
1. Prologue

**Yo what is up guys it's Javael here and I just wanted to let you know/ remind you that I am not the writer for this anymore but we toss ideas around and stuff. I have no control whatsoever, and I'm completely in the dark like you guys and girls. I honestly can't wait to read more and I hope you enjoy. **

**PEACE OUT SCOUTS!**

As we land on the moon's surface I can hardly contain my excitement. Finally my friends and I were sent on our first mission by the vanguard. We knew that they wouldn't entrust us with anything too important, but nevertheless we were still overjoyed to receive the order. We were tasked to investigate the western entrance of the Hellmouth and monitor hive movements.

From our landing site we mount our sparrows and begin to drive towards the dark gates. With our Titan, George, taking the lead we glide across the moon's surface. Looking around I realize the absence of fallen or any movement other than us. The stillness only broken only by the engines of our sparrows.

Approaching the entrance, our hunter Noah, George and I crouch behind a large outcropping a short distance away from the gaping entrance of the Hellmouth. "Something's wrong", Noah whispers, "aren't there supposed to be guards?". Shifting uncomfortably I reply, "yeah and isn't the gate supposed to be closed". "Let me take a look, you guys stay here" George says slowly rising so as to see over the rock.

"What do you see?" asks Noah with a hint of fear in his voice. "Nothing yet.. Wait! There's someone ther-" George's words are cut short as he is thrown back by an emerald fire bolt. Looking back at George for a fraction of a second, Noah and I instinctively raise our guns and begin to fire at the shadowy figure, Noah with his hand cannon and I with my auto rifle. But to no avail as our bullets ricochet off the wall of darkness protecting the figure.

We cease our shooting as George picks himself up out of the crater and pulls out his machine gun. The three of us glance back to see the wall of darkness fade away, revealing that there was no one there. "What?! Where did he go!" Noah exclaims before a green explosion knocks us back slamming me into a wall of rock. An intense pain jolts through my body as I look down to see my lower leg bent completely to the side, clearly mangled by the impact.

Standing on the smoldering ground left by the explosion is a man wearing long flowing robes with a spiked collar surrounding a fearsome horned helmet appearing to be made of bone. Noah recovers first and runs at the man, his knife glowing electric blue. The man effortlessly sidesteps Noah's attack, grabbing his arm and twisting it to the side producing a loud sickening crack. The man follows up the attack by striking Noah's leg incapacitating it. As Noah falls to his knees howling in pain the man grabs Noah's helmet and his hands begin to glow bright with green fire. Cracks appear upon the helmet weakening it as the man rips the helmet apart.

I watch my friend freeze and suffocate simultaneously. I try to move, but my leg only responds with intense pain. When he finally dies Noah's body dissolves into his ghost as the man watches. George, however, has finally recovered and begins to yell with rage as he attempts to stand. The man glances at George over his shoulder and proceeds to grab the ghost with both hands, channeling emerald energy into it. George rises and rushes forward as the man grasps the ghost and hurls it at George.

With an explosion of pure white light George is no more. There is no ghost, no body. I weep into my helmet as shock and grief overtake me.

The man begins walking towards me. Fear fills me as I struggle to move. The man is upon me, he grasps me by my neck, holding me up against the rock. "You're so scared aren't you?" He asks. "So frightened of what I might do". My hands grasp his trying to break his iron grip. The man roars his head back in cold laughter. "No, I won't kill you" he chuckles, "I need you to do something for me". Reaching inside his robes he pulls out a black cube with ornate green symbols pulsating with a faint light. Dropping me to the ground he places the cube in my hand. "Give this to the vanguard and tell no one else, if you don't well..." He says gesturing to to smoldering remains of my friends.

"Lynx return her to the tower" he says and in a flash of green light I am there.

**Hey guys Amazing Chapeau (my preferred online name) here, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed. This story is considerably darker than the original and will involve characters from the original story but is primarily about Ben and his "unique" situation. Being kind of a perfectionist I go through numerous rewrites and edits on my chapters but I will try and get a chapter out every 2 days but don't hold me to it. Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy what I have in store.**


	2. Court of Deception

**Hey guys Amazing Chapeau here sorry for being late on putting this out. Thanks for your patience and time, see you after.**

Chapter 1: Court of deception

My mind wanders and the vision returns. I am running, desperately trying to escape something yet I never see exactly what is chasing me. And as always just as the danger overcomes me, my mind snaps back to reality.

Refocusing, I return to my work. The new weapon that I have been working on is almost complete, a sniper rifle mostly comprised of organic hive materials. Due to the components used in its construction the weapon possesses a unique ability to regenerate ammo after multiple precision shots. The final step is to imbue it with my fire. Placing my hands on the weapon my eyes and hands glow green as energy is transferred into the gun. As my hands and eyes return to their natural state the weapon retains the green glow. "I think I will call you Black Hammer" I say softly.

"My lord" a deep crackling voice proclaims in the tongue of the hive, "the council requests your presence in the throne room". I turn around to see a large knight covered in all black armor with snaking emerald symbols kneeling before me. Standing I sigh saying, "very well Ferron, I had just finished here anyway". As I walk out of my workshop and into my main laboratory I see my other personal guard He-moz, a large knight with crimson red armor instead of black. I continue walking as the Knights follow a few paces behind me. As we walk through the large chamber we pass various skulls and jars adorned along the wall as well some of my past and ongoing experiments. Towards the end of the room lies the dissection table with a large thrall lying partially cut open. Exiting I glance at the small pedestal in the corner upon which lies the Mask of the Third Man.

The walk to the throne room takes us out of a dimly lit side passage and into a large cavernous chamber. In the center of the room lies a large stone flat on one side as if cut by some colossal sword. Onward we walk past a group of thrall feeding upon an unrecognizable carcass. Finally we arrive in the chamber where the shard of Crota's soul used to be and in its place is my throne. It was constructed out of the remnants of Crota's soul crystal and the organic materials that the hive seem to favor (along with my own personal design of course), giving it an aura of arcane power.

Floating around my throne are five wizards. They seem to fancy themselves as my "advisors" but in truth I only tolerate their presence to keep an eye on them. "Look at this, all of you assembled, I bet you even have a presentation prepared" I say as I take my seat with my Knights situated slightly behind the throne on either side. "So to what do I owe this great pleasure? What is so terribly important that you feel the need to drag me away from my delicate work?". "A thousand pardons my lord, we wished to inform you that the items you requested were found and in addition we wish to discuss the plan of action", hissed the wizard. As always this particular wizard treats me with an abundance of flattery and praise, but wether she means it or not I am still unsure.

"Great, did you bring what remains of his journal?" I ask. "Yes my lord, I believe this will have the information you seek" replies the wizard handing me a beat up journal with a burned cover. Opening the book I confirm its legitimacy, as the name Toland is barely visible on the inside cover. "Perfect now we can proceed with the plan, load the remains of his body on board my ship" I command placing the journal on the armrest of my throne. "With all due respect my lord, it has been two lunar cycles since the death of Crota, yet no preparations have been made for the invasion of earth. Did you not promise your followers conquest and glory? Do you not plan to crush the forces of earth?" says another red and black wizard that goes by the name Abragore. This wizard in particular has been attempting to undermine my authority since my rise to power.

"No, I have no intention of attacking earth at this time, we need to focus on consolidating our forces and reclaiming our territories. In addition I have set plans in motion to neutralize certain threats", I respond. "Are you speaking of your meeting with the enemy's leaders? In which you bargain some sort of peace treaty?", she hisses confidently, "you are a fool to deal with them, we should strike them while they are vulnerable. Your continued sympathy for them makes you weak". Out of the corner of my eye I see He-Moz tighten his grip on his sword.

My eyes and hand begin to grow with a green fire. Quickly outstretching my hand towards her I send a blast of fire towards the wizard. The blast knocks her back causing her to cry out in pain as she lands on the floor. Standing up out for my throne I approach her. "Mind your tongue Abragore, before I rip it out and feed it to the thrall" I say coldly, "and you are mistaken, I feel nothing for them. They are merely a means to an end". The Wizards shift nervously unsure of what I will do next. Turning to face them I proclaim, "this meeting is over, prepare my ship, and return to your duties".

As the Wizards float away I continue to eye Abragore, the first to leave. "What am I going to with them?" I say to my guard, "you should destroy them for their insolence" Proclaims He-moz. "No I'm not sure I can right now they hold too much control over the horde, until we unite the hive under one leader, one God, we will have to let them live" I reply walking back towards my throne. "But with this," picking up the journal and gesturing it towards the Knights, "I have both a bargaining chip and information on various gods and how to find them." "What do you plan to do with the gods when you find them my lord?" asks Ferron. "I will destroy them and gain their power just as I did with Crota".

"But first I will need something from the vanguard".

**Hey guys hope you enjoyed! Sorry again for beginning phenomenally late on this chapter I have been super busy lately and haven't had a chance to write. Once we hit the summer I should be posting a chapter every 2 days or so. Until then I will be trying to post another chapter or 2 next week.**


	3. By Fire and Lightning

**I know some of you may be frustrated by my lack of posts and for that I am truly sorry, I have not had ample time to type an entire chapter in one sitting as Javael does and so the certain bits I had were not as quality as I would have liked and thus I had to reorganize and revise those fragments. Rest assured I have always had a whole story planned in its entirety I merely have to write it and now that I am finally on summer break I will begin writing a chapter every two days as I originally said. Hope you can forgive me and enjoy as this chapter we find out what Ben has been doing since Crotas end and we have quite a battle with a familiar force...**

_Eir. _

_Ur._

_Xol. _

_Yul._

The words repeat in my mind, words I must never forget. I have heard them before, referenced in the texts of the hive. Toland deciphered their ancient religious ceremonies and writings to discover them. He knew, as I do, that the pantheon of the hive is controlled by five beings of immeasurable power. But as of now only four are known, and the fifth remains shadowed in mystery. Without more information I will not be able to locate them, much less destroy them. Other gods, however, are not as mighty and can be defeated, the only problem was finding them. Toland knew where they lie, it will only be a matter of accessing the location.

In my private chambers I am alone. I no longer seem to require sleep or even food since my defeat of Crota, yet I still come here. The room is circular with four large crystals at various intervals in the almost living rock, casting a dim orange yellow glow just bright enough to see. The walls have a large indent creating a display case of sorts all around the room. On display are the weapons I have made as well as the charred remains of Beta and a warlock gauntlet torn at the end. The floor is adorned with a faintly glowing green symbol, the very same symbol of power Crota used to enhance his minions. The crystals casts long, ominous shadows upon the floor as I flip through Toland's journal.

I summon Lynx as I continue to peruse the tattered book. "Lynx have you completed your scan of the journal?" I ask glancing up at the floating machine. "Yes my lord, the journal's contents have been extracted and stored for your personal use". "Very well then we can proceed". Closing the journal I exit the chamber, and approach a group of three wizards. "Is the construction of the portal complete?". The Wizards glance at each other briefly before one responds saying "no my lord the portal is not yet finished but it should be done within two rotations". "Very well return to your work". I say turning to walk in the opposite direction. "My lord, two archon priests were recovered on the surface" hissed the wizard.

"What?" I exclaim turning around to face them. "Archon priests? Are you sure? What would they be doing here? The fallen house of exile has no priests that I know of". "It is true my lord" replies another wizard. "Are they alive?" I ask, "Only one lives". "Where are they?". "Archers line, near the site of the portal, the acolytes found them along with a form of energy that incinerated two of them while building the device". "Do not stop construction, I will interrogate these interlopers".

Summoning my emerald bat-like wings of flame I fly straight up exiting the depths of the hellmouth. Turning towards the direction of the first light base my wings propel me quickly towards it. As I gliding across the surface of the moon I have a chance to think. Ever since I had been brought back after killing crota I had been fighting for control of the hive. Many of Crotas followers bowed to me but others sought to destroy me. To combat them I created my army and personal guard all augmented by my newfound power and giving me absolute control over their very being. Slowly I began defeating other forces within the hellmouth that would have me dethroned and binding them to my will. Until I realized the true strength of the hive's religious devotion to their gods. Many could not be separated from their particular God and would fight to the very end to eradicate those deemed blasphemers. In addition I learned that other hive gods had become aware of my presence and seek to control or destroy me. I vowed to never again be manipulated by any being, a vow I intend to keep by destroying all those who have or intend to control me. And thus I need a way to find and absorb the power of the gods. And thanks to Toland's journal I have a way.

As I near archers line I begin the see the large, half completed portal in front of the golden age accelerator, vey similar to those that the hive use to transport their tomb ships. This portal however can open and sustain a portal for an extended period of time. To the right of the accelerator is a large crater with an Archon priest inside, oddly missing a leg. Landing my fire extinguishes and I approach the crater, to the left I notice a second priest sliced into three pieces. At the edge of the crater are a knight and two acolytes standing guard. They fall to their knees at my presence holding up their weapons above their heads. "Is this the place where the workers were destroyed?" I ask, "yes your lordship, one touched the ground and was incinerated" one of the acolytes responds. "Interesting, you touch the crater" I command to the other acolyte. "Your wish is my command, my lord" the acolyte responds, turning to dust in a flash of white light as he contacts the ground. The Archon in the center chuckles shortly. Turning to the remaining guards I say "take the remaining workers and return to the Hellmouth, I will deal with this". "Yes my lord it shall be done", says the knight standing and signaling to the rest of the workers. As they leave I kneel to inspect the crater. I have felt this power before, it is the traveler's.

Carefully I put one foot on the crater. My boot steams and bright white smoke emanates from them but It does not destroy me. I step into the crater and towards the crippled priest. Switching to a language I haven't used in quite some time, I ask the priest, "how is it that an Archon priest finds himself on the moon surrounded by the traveler's energies?". Coughing, he says "the house of wolves will rise and consume all". "I am not in the mood for vague prophecies concerning a defeated fallen house", I say grabbing him by the neck and holding him to the side of the crater," you will tell me what has transpired and who did this to you or you will burn". "Oh this", he says gesturing to the dead priest and crater, "is the work of the one known as Javael". "What?! Javael what was he doing here?" I ask. "Fighting us, after the mad God left him he tracked down a priest and tried to trick me, we fought and and he teleported us here where he summoned the traveler's power and defeated us". Javael's power must be growing if he can command the power of the light I must find him before he reaches his true potential or I may be in danger, and this mad God I have heard of him before, the hive God of trickery and madness. Turning back to him I ask, "this mad God how did Javael become involved with it?". Coughing again the priest responds, " I am unsure my sources tell me that it was bonded to him and that he was able to separate himself, banishing the gods mortal form". An already weakened God, if I can somehow find his personal dimension I can easily destroy him. "You will take to the last place that you saw him, now". Laughing the priest clicks a button on his side and says "I will take you no where but to your death". Just then six fallen skiffs appeared out of slip space right above us. The priest melted away in my hands as he was brought aboard the ship.

The skiffs fired large blasts of arc energy as I jumped out of the crater and dodges them only to land right in front of a grenade. The resulting explosion through me back skidding across the moons surface. "Damnit!" I exclaim as I get back up only to see the skiffs release an army of fallen soldiers. Captains and vandals rush forward with their swords drawn, vandals with wire rifles take aim, dregs begin flanking me, shanks circle. Smiling I let forth one of the new abilities Crota gave me, hive lightning. With one hand I summon the lighting which arcs through through the ranks killing all it touches. Out of the corner of my eye I see the glint of a wire rifle scope and quickly raise a wall of darkness blocking it just in time. A stealth vandal rushes me from behind slashing his sword. Ducking I fire a blast of fire reducing him to dust. Gritting my teeth as I attempt to maintain the wall of darkness being fired upon by the skiffs and snipers I summon all of my power. My body blazes in green fire, my wings form and I fly up towards the skiff. Melting the outer wall ease I fly through the ship rupturing the fuel cells. With a thunderous explosion the skiff is destroyed as debris falls to the ground killing many fallen warriors. Two other skiffs begin to fire on me in the air with me flying to dodge the arc bolts. Generating two orbs of pure fire similar to the fusion grenades I used to use, except vastly more powerful, I throw them upon the ships which detonate in a display of emerald light.

The skiff furthest from me jumps into slip space, the priest has escaped but his forces remain. One of the two remaining skiffs approaches me firing. Extending my hands I blast all of my newfound power into the skiff overloading the ship causing explosions in multiple places and making it crash into the moons surface. "Time to end this". I say, dragging my open palm in front of I leave behind a trail of green energy turning into my sword. Grabbing the hilt I zoom towards the last skiff I circle until I am on its left side away from the cannons. Raising my sword I channel my fire from my wings into the sword causing me to fall as I cleave the skiff in half. I land sword embedded in the lunar dust. "Mor-Ull yur!" I yell raising my sword aloft. Out of the caves and the hellmouth itself come thousands of thrall rushing towards the remaining fallen. The head captain turns looks locks eyes with me as the thrall overrun the fallen.

The captain slashes at me with his humming electric blue swords as I easily sidestep him with my heightened reflexes, and blast him back with a pulse of fire. Quickly recovering he teleports behind me. Reacting even faster I swing my sword slicing two of his arms off. Reeling in pain the captain stumbles back and fall on the steps to the half finished portal. In a pained voice he says "you have to power to kill me where I stand why do you toy with me?". "Because sometimes it's more fun to kill things personally, I couldn't see your face at the annihilation of your forces, I couldn't savor your pain and suffering if I were to incinerate you. No I am going to kill you myself and watch your life leave you as my sword bathes in your blood". Horrified he says "you are an honor less monster". The thrall scream as they tear the fallen apart and feast on their flesh. I raise my sword above the cowering captain.

"No, I'm something far worse".

**Thanks guys hope you enjoyed and like I said earlier sorry for the lateness but I will be post on an actual schedule from now on so when I finish my exams tomorrow so expect a post on Thursday or Friday. Next time Ben faces off against some familiar faces. See you then! **


	4. Bargains

**Alright the return of the story sound the trumpets! Javael and I took about two months off to enjoy the summer with our families but now that we are back we can continue as usual. So guys we got a bit of a shorter chapter this time but trust me you'll understand why at the end. As always hope you enjoy and prepare yourself.**

Pulling my sword out of the captain's chest I turn to face Ferron. Behind him lay hundreds of dead fallen, and almost as many thrall consuming the corpses.

"Qeat motair" I say to Ferron.

"My lord why do you speak in the tongue of the fallen?", he asks.

Switching to the hive language I address him.

"I learned the how to speak their language when I interrogated the house of exile. I was using it to inform the captain of the true depth of his defeat. Did you discover any information about Javael?".

"None" Ferron replied.

"Very well, I will continue to investigate on my own".

"What actions would you have us take my liege?"

"My negotiations with the vanguard begin in less than one planetary rotation, in the meantime continue to clean up this mess so that construction can continue, it must be prepared for when I gain the access codes for the base. Oh, and bring a few specimens back to my laboratory for dissection".

"I live to serve my lord." He says turning back towards the battlefield strewn with corpses.

With a wave of my hand I cause my sword to dissolve into green mist and I ignite my body, summoning my wings once again. I fly back towards the gaping hole in the lunar surface that is the hellmouth. Landing upon the circle of bones I see my ship, named the _Bane of the Dark Gods, _docked and prepared for travel. I don't need it to traverse space personally but in this case I have need to transport certain items.

All of a sudden a searing pain appears in my mind. I drop to my knees clutching my skull. I grit my teeth to try and keep from screaming at the ever increasing torture, climbing and climbing reaching towards a crescendo of agony and just as the pain reaches its maximum the pain freezes. I open my eyes only to see blackness. Removing my hands from my head and standing up I attempt to observe my surroundings but there is only darkness around me. Then a voice breaks the crushing silence.

"The light grows in strength" the voice says in a deep, ancient, yet somehow familiar voice.

"It will envelope all unless it is stopped", the voice continues,"my son attempted to destroy it but his efforts were foolish and brash thus he had to be destroyed to ensure my future success"

"Oryx" I say.

"Yes, and you are the sword with which I struck down my son and the sword who will fracture the light in my name".

"I am not yours to command as you see fit. I do not bow to any god, I alone control my fate"

"You operate under the illusion that you are in control. Who resurrected you, who gave you power and purpose, who crafted your destiny long before the slumber of the orb of light began?"

"Do not speak to me as if I am some petulant child!", I yell, "my power may have begun with you but I have evolved into something far greater than you could ever comprehend!"

"Do not forget your place. You continue to exist only because I have used for you. I am coming to finish what my son poorly attempted, and when I do you shall repay your debt".

Before I can speak three blueish-green eyes appear for a brief moment and then I return to reality.

Still on my knees from before the vision I stand and summon Lynx.

"Take us to old Russia".

I dissolve to reappear aboard my ship. As I make the jump to slip space I check the cargo hold to ensure that Tolands body and journal are intact. When I sent the message to the vanguard I informed them that I was willing to make a deal, Toland and his journal for the access codes of the first light base on the moon obtained when guardians first returned there. I also stated that if the deal was successful that neither I nor my forces, would harm the earth.

Exiting slip space, my ship enters earths atmosphere above Russia flying to the coordinates that I had specified, the area known as the forgotten shore. Lynx teleports me down to a large, rusty ship upon which stand three figures; the vanguard.

Zavala, Cayde, and Ikora armored in their full gear stand before me. Zavala tightens his grip on his auto rifle as I speak.

"I see you got my message, I trust you brought the access codes?"

"Yes" says Ikora pulling out the black and green cube in which I sent the message to them. "And Toland?" she adds cautiously.

"Lynx" I summon who teleports Toland and his journal in front of them.

Ikora hands me the cube to me and her ghost dissolves Tolands remains.

"Lynx confirm the information is present" I say never taking my eyes off the three hardened warriors in front of me.

"All data is there"

"Good, then I will leave the earth alone, you are safe for another day"

That was too easy I think to myself as I turn around preparing to board my ship.

"We'll kill you, you bastard". Cayde says drawing his handcannons from his side holsters and pointing them at my head.

I turn replying "do you really believe you can?"

"You'll die just like any other". Says Zavala.

"I've died so many times already, I'm not even sure I can anymore. It's not a question of whether you can kill me or not it's whether you can outlast me. And no one can, not even the three of you".

"Only three? Check again" says Ikora pulling out her infamous shotgun; Invective.

I turn around to see Stacie, Jace, Ruby, Lynda, another girl and tow men I've never seen before along with a man with a robotic leg.

Stacie cracks her knuckles.

"Now that's more like it" I say.

**So we got a eleven vs one fight including the original team, vanguard, and some of Javs secret team. I do have some great news though, because this is gonna be a really big awesome fight I can promise you with 100% certainty that you only have to wait until tomorrow to see it. That's why this one took so long to come out cause I was working on the fight as well. Get ready **


	5. Bad Blood

**Well not much to say other than Javael had issues putting it on his channel the day I needed it up due to stop internet errors (don't make promises you can't ensure wifi won't screw with) but here it is the big battle you've been waiting for! So without further ado, Let's begin...**

Before I can react, I die.

I feel a sharp pressure in my back and glance down just in time to see the hole in my chest made by Ikora's shotgun before Stacie's electrified fist slams into my skull. The impact throws me off the rusted boat and onto the ground below cracking my helmet in the process. As I channel my flames into the gaping wound I see Ruby's nova bomb hurdling at me and summon a wall of darkness just in time to block the brunt of the attack only to be hit by Zavala's fist of havoc. The shockwave knocks me into another rusted ship, next to Rasputin's transmitter. Using my augmented strength I rip it out and hurl it towards the rest of them decimating the ship they were standing on as it explodes.

Zavala is distracted for a moment by the destruction but a moment is all I need as I summon a massive blast of flame which sends him through the metal hull of a stranded boat. My wound healed I jump off the boat as Cayde strafes from the side firing his handcannons. The bullets hit my chest and arms as I attempt to dodge him. Quickly thinking I summon all my lightning, I cannot control it as well as my flames but I release the energy in a massive burst towards Cayde. The electricity hits him and just as I suspected, his exo circuits overload causing him to shut down.

Behind me I hear the distinctive sound of Invective. I spin around, hurling a fire bolt towards the noise. She blinks out of the way releasing a barrage of shrapnel from her shotgun. Ikora's shots ricochet off the wall of darkness I summoned at the last possible second. It would take too long to regenerate from another direct blast from her gun and I need all the time I can get. Ikora blinks over my wall performing a backflip in mid air to get a good shot on me, I unleash a pulse of fire from my hand blasting her back into a large pylon. I rush in slamming her through it and into the rock face below an abandoned outpost. Superheating both of my hands I melt the foundation causing the outpost to collapse on top of her unconscious body.

The vanguard are temporarily incapacitated but they won't be down for very long meaning I need to make use of this short window of time. Glancing at my opponents I can see that they are recovering and are viable to attack at any moment. But if I am to be victorious I cannot fight them all at the same time so I activate my fail safe, I summon Lynx and issue orders.

"Lynx, initiate mortality protocol and signal the ships"

Immediately Lynx separates sending out a pulse of blue-green energy that travels across the battle field passing through my foes. The energy damages their ghosts rendering them incapable of reviving one another.

"Your ghosts can save you no longer, I taken away your greatest asset" I shout. "Next I will take your lives".

Five tears in space-time appear above the battlefield, heralding the arrival of five tomb ships. Each ship unleashes a battalion of thrall, acolytes, knights, and wizards upon the remaining eight. Walking towards them my fireteam I see them surrounded by my army. An unfamiliar female voice exclaims to the rest as the four strangers made up of two hunters, a Titan, and a warlock rush towards me.

"We'll take care of him, we've killed a god before, we can do it again"!

Stacie still locked in fistfight with a knight, attempts to issue a warning but to no avail as the four seem to ignore it, the army closes in around my fireteam cutting them off from the rest of the fight.

The titan with the metal leg leading the charge they continue to rush at me firing a hail of bullets as they approach.

"Fools you have no idea what your dealing with".

I hurl a bolt of fire towards them which explodes is fiery display that they miraculously dodge and proceed to throw explosives of their own. Their feeble attempts do nothing but annoy me as the female hunter suggests an attack.

"We need to freeze him or something the cold can shut the hive down"

"Now where would you get an idea like that?" I reply.

The Titan strikes first with a shoulder charge. Grabbing onto him at the last second and redirecting his movement I utilize his own momentum to send him crashing into the ground. As the others begin their attack the male hunter lunges to the right pulling out a large knife. I blast lightning with my left hand at the female hunter and warlock causing them to yell in agony as the electricity arcs through their flesh. With my right I summon my sword with a drag of my hand materializing it out of a dark emerald mist, in time to slash at the hunter with the knife. Faster than I had anticipated, he dodges but is still thrown off, slicing the shoulder guard off of my armor instead of my arm. Dissipating my lightning and summoning fire in an instant I hit the hunter with a powerful blast sending him reeling.

Out of the corner of my cracked helmet I see the Titan's bronze colored metallic leg collide into my sternum. The force of the blow knocks the sword out of my hand as it lands near the female hunter and warlock still twitching with electric impulses on the ground. The Titan begins attacking me, punching at my body and head with arc empowered fists. As I block his blows I have a realization. His leg is from a vex. I retaliate with a blow of my own shattering his helmet in the process taking a step back he rips the shards off to reveal a robotic left eye vaguely resembling those of the vex.

"What are you?" I ask.

"I am Raiden, and I'm gonna put you down"!

He throws a fast and powerful punch but not fast enough I take his punch in my left hand grabbing his fist. Before he can retaliate I shove my other hand into his chest with all my might causing his arm to rip out of its socket spraying blood across the dirt and snow as he screams in pain.

"Despite your augmentation Raiden, you are still a mortal challenging a god. And after I kill you I will cut you open to learn about what makes you tick".

He lunges with his remaining arm and I rip it off as well causing yet another outburst of pained yelling. Next I go for his eye grabbing and pulling out his vex eye as he screams in sounds of absolute agony. I hold the eye in my hand out in front of his face as he kneels before me. Tears and blood mix on his face.

"I think I'm going to keep this. Just know I had no quarrel with you, Raiden. But you and your friends dared to challenge my might along with those who believed that they could use me so long ago".

Placing the eye inside my robes I approach him grabbing his chestplate and raising his broken and whimpering form above my head grasping his chest and his waist.

"But the penance for defying me, is death"

I rip his body in half.

Blood and vex data milk rain down on my armor as I throw his two halves to the side. I look upon the dirt and snow as the noise of my fireteam taking on my hive army rages in the background. The blood and milk pool on the ground, repelling each other like oil and water resulting in red pools with shimmering white swirls and blobs taking on abstract shapes of their own. I sometimes forget how beautiful death is, a beauty most don't appreciate.

A flaming knife pierces my chest.

"That was for Raiden you son of a bitch".

I grab the oversized knife sticking through my chest and begin to laugh.

"All of you just don't understand do you? Allow me to show you".

I rip the knife out through the front of my chest tearing it from his grasp. Flipping it around I turn and stab him in the chest. With a muffled grunt of pain he stumbles and falls back onto a rock face ceasing to move.

Turning back towards the two fallen combatants I see them beginning to stand. I grab my sword and go in for a killing blow on the female hunter only be hit by a sudden axion bolt throwing me off guard as the hunter jumps on my chest and begins stabbing me repeatedly. The warlock goes for my back nova bombing me as the hunter jumps off. My armor blacked and singed from the constant punishment ripples with a blue and green light as I fire a blast of pure energy blasting the warlock to the side.

"Bruce"! The hunter cries out.

"I am a god you incompetent child, I cannot be killed, cannot be stopped. And anything between me and my goal will be obliterated".

The hunter rips her helmet off to reveal shimmering silver hair, tears of incomprehensible rage stream down her face. She speaks through gritted teeth, her face contorting in a mixture of grief and anger.

"You killed Cipher and Raiden".

"Cipher, ah so the second one did have a name".

"You don't even see him as a person you... you monster"!

"He was of little concern, the vex one interested me. I expected him to put up more of a fight but alas he was as weak as the rest. As I keep telling you I am a god, I am immortal".

"You're wrong. Jav and I killed a god before, I can do it again".

She draws her knife. I laugh, she hums with electric blue energy.

"And you can remember my name motherf$&amp; er, it's Silvia"!

She rushes at me slashing with her knife. I catch her arm mid swing and snap it like a twig. As she cries out in pain I slap her with the back of my right hand. Then I grab her throat with my left slamming her against a slap of rusted metal and begin to channel my fire into my wounds. She kicks and fails to free herself so I snap her legs with my free hand, striking them and shattering the bone one by one as she struggles to scream with my hand on her throat.

"Another bladedancer how original. When I looked at you I knew you are the type of girl that Jav attracts. Naive, hotheaded, brash, stubborn, and above all incomprehensibly stupid. But that is how Jav is, he exudes arrogance and thus attracts those like him. You didn't kill that god you merely weakened him, send a part of his soul back to its owner, but for that I thank you as it will made him easy to destroy. As for Jav there is something that you need to realize, you can't rely on him. When you're in a tough situation and he defends you, you think he has your back, but be warn Jav will abandon you the second his own personal interests conflict, no matter how much you need him. He is selfish beyond all comprehension and will use his own friends to get what he wants".

She struggles to respond in as trained voice.

"N-no we're his team, he would die for us".

"Then where is he now?"

"At the reef trying to help the queen".

"Exactly"

Her eyes widen as with the realizations of my words.

"The only thing that you can depend on with him is the fact that he will abandon you when he needs you the most. And if my sources are true he can add the reef to his list of failures. I know first hand the results of his selfishness. Did he ever mention me?"

"Once or twice".

"Yes he probably wouldn't want to talk about me too much, for I am potentially his greatest failure. Did you know that he was the first to greet me after my resurrection? That he was my closest friend and most trusted companion? He was. He trained me, taught me what I know of the tower and this world, we were a team. Until the day he abandoned me in the hellmouth. On a mission investigating the hive we went into the hive's fortress and were overwhelmed. In the course of our escape Jav was seemingly blown up by a cursed thrall and buried under tons of rock. He faked his own death leaving me in the process to face my possessed ghost and Oryx on my own. Eventually leading to me gaining the dark powers and embracing this path. All of this could have been prevented if he had stayed. We could have solved the mystery together and fought side by side to destroy it. Instead he left me when I needed him the most. All of this blood is on his hands, everyone I kill, all I do, is a result of his actions. I own him a debt, and one I plan to repay."

From my right the warlock called Bruce stands and runs for me yelling for me to put her down. My power still concentrated on healing myself I pull my Word of Crota from my robes with my right hand and aim towards him. Silvia swings her broken leg knocking my arm and throwing off my shot. I fire two bullets which hit his chest and stomach causing him to fall silently to the ground motionless. Silvia cries and screams louder than ever.

"Why do you care for him so?"

"H-HE WAS MY TWIN YOU F$ ?ing BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"

"You can't."

My hand clenches her throat, cutting off her air supply. Her eyes roll back into her head and I drop her body.

My wounds healed I pick up my sword switching my gun to my left hand and turn to the remains of my army for a split second before Jace's golden gun shot shatters my head.

I fall back as my former teammates gather around me. I summon all my power causing a massive blast of green fire and repairing my broken body. I hover in the air with wings of pure fire. My helmet gone I face my friends, my eyes burning with green fire. Jace is the first to speak.

"This ends now Ben. We're stopping you one way or another."

I continue to stare at them full of anger. Stacie takes off her helmet revealing her blue hair and soft, concerned face and begins to speak.

"Ben please, I know you're still in there somewhere give this up and come home. We can help you."

A vision overtakes me. No this cannot be happening not now. Stacie's face flashes before my eyes, I remember my fireteam and my friends. The vision melts away as quickly as it came my memories melting to those blue-green eyes. I remove my hands from my face as the world returns. I am still floating my team is still in front of me. Ruby, her arm that I tore off replaced with one of void light looks at Lynda who speaks.

"Surrender now or we will make you".

"All of you have manipulated me. Betrayed me, and now you will pay the price. You are welcome to try and stop me but know that you don't stand a chance".

Jace replies.

"I don't think we'll do that, I think we'll keep stalling for Zavala".

Zavala slams into my back hurling me towards the team, right into Ruby's nova bomb. I am thrown back but manage to stabilize myself in mid air with my wings. Zavala is already there, charging towards me at top speed. I hover backwards quickly throwing up wall after wall only to be shattered by Zavala. I throw up one last wall and charge a massive firebolt, as Zavala destroys the last wall I hit him with the blast sending him flying across the cosmodrome.

Jace hurls his throwing knife towards my head. I catch it in the air and through it back impaling him in the chest. Lynda rushes with her knife, Ruby casting void energy at me, Stacie runs over to Jace. I summon my sword and lock Lynda's knife. I dissipate my wings and lead with an overhead slash at Ruby. she dodges the first slash by blinking out of the way as Lynda jumps on me and repeated stabbing my neck, but I swing again slicing her diagonally across the chest causing her to cry out in pain.

"RUBY"! Lynda screams.

I pull Lynda off and slam her on the ground breaking her arm and several ribs in the process. With her out of the fight temporarily I rush at Stacie I hit with a blast of lightning. I stand over her my sword held aloft ready to strike.

"Ben please, Im sorry this happened to you, but I know you're in there you're a fighter, so fight it. For me".

"This is who I am".

I swing my sword down. Stacie closes her eyes. My sword stops centimeters from her face. I can't bring myself to kill her. Why? Why can I kill her she is part of my revenge. I remove my sword, pick up my gun and summon Lynx.

"Take me back"

I dissolve in my ship and glance back to the blood strewn, blacked battlefield, I lock eyes with Stacie one last time and blast off out of the the atmosphere.

In slip space Lynx appears next to me.

"My lord there is a ship in pursuit".

"Then we can begin"

**Thanks guys hope you enjoyed next chapter is slightly less action packed in sorry to say but that doesn't mean some crazy stuff won't happen. Please feel free to talk to me in the comments as I want to hear what you guys have to say! Prepare for Silence.**


	6. Silent Screams

My ship lands at its docking station in the circle of bones. I exit the ship and immediately fall to my knees. My armor burnt, battered, and broken clings to my body, wrapping me in its dark embrace. I reach inside and pull out the cube. One objective was completed, the other I must first secure.

But there is no time to plan or consider, my guest will be arriving shortly. As if on cue I see the opening of a slip space portal and through it a ship heading directly for me. The ship slams into me smashing pillars and rock, driving me through a wall. The ship's ruptured fuel tank exploded upon me searing my flesh to the bone. The ship's pilot stumbles in from the side, having teleported out at the last possible moment.

Lynda stumbles towards me. A knife in one hand and her other clutching her stomach. Pinned to a pillar by the remains of her ship's cockpit, I reach out with my left hand towards the cube just out of reach. My left hand is nothing more than bone, held together by sinew and hive magics, the black bone is inscribed with faintly glowing blue-green runes. The burns of the explosion are along my left side with chunks of flesh gone, I feel a cold sensation on the left side of my face and I realize that it has been stripped away as well. I've take too much damage, healing will take far too long at this point I must focus all my efforts on Lynda.

Lynda is almost on top of me. Through her helmet I hear her speak.

"You've hurt us enough Ben it's time I return the favor. I'm gonna fucking end this myself, for Ruby, for Jace, for Beta".

The commotion has alerted the hive and they are beginning to swarm. Lynda is completely unaware, her focus entirely on me. Out of the corner of my eye I see He-moz and Ferron leading a battalion of hive out a dark side passage. Glancing back at Lynda I begin to talk.

"Your rage has blinded you Lynda, it it will be your undoing".

I blast her with a burst of fire sending her back towards my soldiers. With my energies still coursing through me I channel the heat into the metal ship, liquifying the hull and allowing me to slip out of its embrace. Lynda, meanwhile, is engaging acolytes and thrall while my guards attack from behind. Raising my hands I command them.

"Zor-has!"

The hive retreat back into the dark crevices of the hellmouth leaving my two guards and Lynda. Full of rage she lunges towards me, bellowing with anger, her body glowing with the all to familiar electric blue energy. Her yells of rage are cut short however as she slams into my wall of darkness I cast in front of her. Dissipating the wall I slam my right fist into her skull slamming her on the floor, putting cracks in her helmet. Before she can retaliate I grab her with my skeletal hand and pin her to a pillar.

"Do I look like something that can be destroyed? Do I Lynda!?"

From the cracked glass I see my half exposed, blackened skull inlaid with the symbols and my eyes glowing with a green flame, the same as the symbols.

"I cannot be defeated, I will never stop until my revenge is complete. Like I've told you, I can't die. But you can".

I shock all of my electricity into her. She screams in pain as it courses through her body. As fast as I began, I recall the power, the sudden jolt stopping her heart. I let her slip from my grasp and fall to the ground, gently kicking up a cloud of lunar dust on her impact. My guards stand behind me as I stare at Lynda's body. Turning around I address them.

"Bring her to my laboratory I still have need of her."

With a slight nod my guards gather her up and bring her to into the hellmouth.

Nearly an hour had passed when Lynda regained consciousness. Her armor removed, she lies on the examination table with the minimal clothing that lay underneath, a small mask upon her face supplying the oxygen to keep her alive. Beside her is a tray with a large syringe filled with a black liquid. With a loud gasp her eyes open and she begins to struggle against the restraints.

"Where the fuck am I?!" She exclaims.

"Oh good you're awake, looks like we can finally get to work. To answer your question, you're in my laboratory deep within the Hellmouth." I say with a skeletal grin.

"It doesn't matter where I am, my team will find me and destroy you! Even if you kill me they will take you down!"

"I don't believe you're in any position to make threats, Lynda. In any case I'm not sure why you think I want to kill you. If I wanted you dead I could have left you to suffocate on the moon's surface. No, I require something from you Lynda, and you will give it to me."

"I'm not gonna give you anything, you sadistic son of a bitch!"

"You will in time. Even if it takes a little, coercing. Let's start with an easy one: who were the others fighting alongside you?"

"Fuck you! Torture me all you want I'd rather die than help you!"

"Very well, let us put that to the test"

Above her I summon a sigil of power. The bright green symbols comprised of pure mystical energy hover above Lynda. She scoffs.

"That's the best you got, a bullshit light show?! Cmon Ben I thought you said you were a fucking god of death or something, I expected more."

I grin and cast the spell. Tendrils of energy extend down from the symbol shoot out piercing her body wherever they strike going into her very bones. She writhes against her restraints and cries out louder than before until her voice gives out and she can only grunt in pain.

"I'm sure you've heard the stories about wizards stripping the light from guardians. This is a slightly modified version of their spell, it siphons the travelers energy signature from you, but that would normally kill a guardian so it substitutes it with a power similar to that which sustains me. If I stop now the process can still be reversed, just tell me what I want to know and I can make it stop."

"F-fuck you arrggggh!"

As I accelerate the spell her back arches up towards the sigil as the tendrils absorb the last of the travelers power, sending it to a another location. Lynda inhales sharply and makes another snide remark.

"Y-you not gonna get anything from me, w-we will stop you, you bastard."

I put up the syringe from an onyx tray behind me.

"Hm, I suppose bastard is a good term for me. I'm no longer human and yet the hive will never truly accept me. Being born of both light and dark I have no true parentage, no place to call home, no one to call my family. There is only me. I guess you are correct, I truly am a bastard. Regardless all that matters is you at this current moment, before I continue do you wish to give me what I want?"

"No, you might as well kill me because I'm never going to!"

"Who said I was going to kill you?"

"Torture me as long as you want, you won't get anything."

I inject the black liquid into her neck.

"I will get exactly what I want in time. Now we have to wait for it to take effect."

"What is it? What the hell did you do?!"

"I injected you with the black liquid used in certain hive rituals, particularly the one used to transform a thrall into an ogre. It will make things easier for the next phase."

"Next phase? What are you doing to me?!"

"Oh you'll see soon enough. But while we wait for it to fully enter your bloodstream I'll tell you about my time here. After the Crota ordeal I began claiming power within the hive. In addition I attempted to learn all I could from the Wizards including one particular trick, breaking into the minds of others. They explained it was like extending ones mind to pierce the veil surrounding another, like a knife through thoughts. They also said that some minds are easier to break than others as very few are trained to resist it. So I naturally wanted to become resistant to such manipulation and so I began experimenting, I allowed the Wizards to attempt to break into my mind. Once they broke in I killed them immediately to prevent them from taking control. I forced myself to adapt to the situation and defend myself or fall until my efforts finally came to fruition. Gradually my mind toughened, my defense strengthened, and eventually the Wizards were unable to break in at all. I continued the trading but I began to study their methods of breaking in and while they tried to get into mine I sent my mental knife into theirs. I became proficient in cracking the minds of others and stealing information among other things."

Lynda's eyes widen.

"Wait then you don't even need me to-"

I cut her off mid sentence.

"Exactly, I can rip whatever I need from your mind."

"Then why the fuck are you torturing to me why not just kill me like you did the others!?"

With a sinister grin I reply.

"Good you're catching on, certainly took you long enough. You see Lynda I am surrounded by noise, both within and outside of my mind. A buzzing, a whispering, the plotting of treachery and danger. There are those who wish to remove me from power, to prevent me from completing my goals, and even to use me for their own ends. These voices I hear within even my own fortress, they distract me from my true mission. I need these voices quieted, the noises stopped, what I need is silence. That is what you will be, my peace, my Silence."

"I'm never going to help you as long as I am alive you son of a bitch. Get one of your fucking minions to do it for you."

I chuckle and walk over to the pedestal holding the Mask of The Third Man beside it is a large egg along with the heart of a wizard.

"They are not nearly skilled enough for what I need. None of them have the stealth or the ability to be my perfect assassin, the only option is you. I have been planning this for quite some time Lynda, nothing can prevent this."

Lynda attempts to respond but no words come out. She then begins to gasp for air and her writhing slows. It is time. I grab a large scalpel and make a long, deep vertical incision along her chest. She grunts but her body no longer responds as it is entirely focused on reacting to the ceremonial liquid. The blood begins to flow from her, slowly and at an abnormal rate I reach around her rib cage and cut out her heart placing it on the tray behind me. Quickly I place the modified Wizard's heart where her's used to be and began reattaching the arteries, the ceremonial liquid allowing her body to take the foreign organ. Due to the spells cast earlier, her body begins to heal around the heart upon which green runes appear on its dark surface. The new heart begins to beat spreading the black liquid throughout her body. I reseal her chest and once again cauterize it by superheating my hands. Lynda can only stare at me with wide,horrified eyes. She is still conscious thanks to my magic, but in a state of near paralysis. I then cut out her tongue to ensure her secrecy.

"This will allow your living body to be more compatible with the worm, and to let me stop your heart anytime I see fit."

Her eyes dart back and forth in horror.

I pick up the egg and utter another spell causing the inside the inside of the egg to faintly glow. The egg then cracks to reveal a larval worm. Gesturing towards her I speak.

"This is the larvae of the hive, as they grow into what you think of as thrall and then progress to other forms such as the acolytes. By allowing it to bond to you, you will join their ranks and be subject to the Sword-Logic like myself and all of the hive."

I make the operation table become fully vertical so I can reach her back where I set the worm on her back where it proceeds to burrow into her body. Moving the table back down her body continues to shudder as the larvae attaches itself to her spine.

I grab the mask of the third man and approach her.

"Now this is the part that hurts, I am going to take all of your memories before I wipe them. You will become my perfect assassin, loyal only to me."

Tears form in her eyes as I place the mask over her face. I then go into her mind, quickly I rip her memories from her learning the identities and locations of Jav and his new team along with everything else she knows. I disconnect her memory and personality leaving only her skills. The last thing I do is attach mental connections to myself so I can see what she sees and communicate with her whenever I see fit. The last thing I do is make her unconscious for the final stage.

I summon the brood mothers who wrap Lynda's broken body in a large cocoon. When they are finished they silently carry her towards the ritual site, located in a place that roughly translates to the Cauldron. After procuring the Black Hammer I join them along with my guards at the altar. Along the twin staircases acolytes kneel in prayer, levitating their weapons slightly above their bony fingers. The high brood mother then speaks to me in a raspy voice.

"The ritual is prepared in accordance with the worm-gods. I must warn you that a spell of in this specific manner has this has not yet been attempted, what will emerge may not be what you seek."

The council of wizards floats in the back of the chamber to watch. Abragore eyeing my progress. There can be no signs of weakness if I am to maintain my command. I face the mother and respond to her statement.

"I am aware, proceed."

"A sacrifice shall be required in accordance with the Sword-Logic."

Now for my gamble.

"The wizard Abragore will be the sacrifice".

The Wizards in the back buzz, Abragore is shocked and enraged. She hovers towards me, claws beginning to crackle with energy.

"How dare you offer me as a sacrifice for your creation! I am the commander of the hordes, priestess of Oryx, you cannot do this!"

"Oh can I? You may be his priest but I am Oryx's chosen warrior, the slayer of his son and embodiment of his power. To challenge me is to challenge the King."

The rest of the council remian in the back and silent, they are interested in what I will do. I pick up the ritual knife on the altar and continue.

"You exist to serve me. Instead you have attempted to undermine my authority on multiple are useless to me in life but in your death will give rise to a far greater servant."

I lunge faster than she can react and stab her in the heart she screams as the brood mother casts her spell. Her power and life force are siphoned into the cocoon. The mother begins the sequence of spells.

"As the worm-lords first gifted the heirs to the Osmium Throne their mighty power so do I impart the power of the wizard to this new being."

The spells continue as the acolytes chant, both are in ancient hive text with a limited translation in any earth language.

Eventually the form inside the cocoon glows green as noises of cracking and oozing emanate from it. The chanting increases in frequency. The glow continues to increase as the chanting reaches a crescendo and then suddenly disappears.

"It is finished."

With the final words the mother and her assistants float back to their domain, the acolytes return to their duties, and the council flees. The only ones left are my guards and I. I approach the cocoon, Ferron questions.

"Was it successful my lord?"

"We shall see."

I hear a loud crack as the cocoon breaks open to reveal I hand, nothing like Lynda's, it resembles an acolytes but with fingers ending in claw-like points. She continues to climb out allowing me to she her chitinous body, like one of the hive, with a spike on either shoulder like those on a knight. She climbs to her feet, showing her face. The mask has become her face. The three eyes glow with an emerald light, they are no longer a visor but her eyes as it has fully melded and become part of her. Her body is a similar color to that of the Hammer and appears to be of a similar composition. I feel her in my mind I can see into it and communicate with it on a whim. I address her.

"Lynda is dead, only Silence remains."

She kneels before me. I pick up the Hammer and her modified knife, enchanted and organic. I bid her to rise and place the weapons in her hands. She takes them feeling the weight and getting a sense for them.

"Although I am sure you are loyal only to me we must be sure. Your first task will be to kill Ruby. My sources say she is currently in the tower's medbay, you will sneak in and eliminate your final tie to your former self. Take my ship and take her out discreetly, I will monitor your progress."

She bows her head and proceeds to the ship. I watch her mentally and see what she sees as she teleports in undetected and sneaks into the medbay under the cover of night, her hunter stealth and invisibility augmented by hive magics. Entering the bay and finding the room she stands above Ruby, lying battered and unconscious in the bay. She pulls her knife and cuts the wire to the machines keeping her alive. She resets the cameras and begins her return. Silence has claimed her first victim, many more will follow.


	7. Shattered Reflections

My knights inform me the portal to the ascendant realm is ready. If my visions are true, the rise of the wolves and the coming of Oryx will destabilize the guardians hold on the system. The stage is set for my ascension, to enter the realm and gain even more power, power enough to kill Oryx and claim his throne.

My visions have been coming more frequently as time progressed, giving me a glimpse into the future. I have seen the revolt of the wolves and the slaying of their Kell, I have seen through my eyes Stacie at my side, and the coming of Oryx. The visions are never long enough to take in the full situation but I am able to see short glimpses. They have allowed me to plan my movements and have not failed me in their accuracy so far. The most prudent at the current moment is the rise of the house of wolves, who are currently trying to unite the other fallen houses. If they achieve this goal their next step will be to assault the tower in an attempt to retake their "great machine" as the Eliksni call it. This will take a great amount of effort and resources for the tower to repel them, weakening the guardians significantly and allowing me to make my play.

To ensure the wolves' success I have sent Silence to destroy any fire teams that discover their efforts before they report to the tower. Occasionally I will peer into her mind and see her progress, she has so far eliminated three fire teams and many smaller guardian units. Her reconnaissance has also informed me that the assault may occur very soon so my preparations need to be accelerated. So too must my acquisition of power.

The portal is completed. The ascendant realm accessible. I stand before it fully armored and ready, my guards behind me. I will transcend the boundary and gain both knowledge and power from the god's sacred realm. With these new advantages I will destroy the weakened God on Europa as planned increasing my power even further and allowing me to continue my machinations.

I turn to my guards.

"Stand guard until I return. None may enter."

They bow and I enter the portal.

I embrace a rush of images and energy, sound and silence, light and dark. It whirls around me for a brief moment and then stops. I emerge in an empty circular room made of onyx with a high ceiling and almost no light save a dim crystal torch casting it's orange glow. There seem to be no exits save the faintly swirling portal. I frantically check for anything but find nothing. Did the portal fail? Were the gods forewarned somehow? Was this a trap? My pondering was interrupted by a second portal doorway opening on the opposite side of the room. Out stepped a warlock, clad in shamanistic robes adorned with feathers colored blue and red. Gauntlets of coiled wire sparking with electricity adorn his arms, and he wears a helmet shaped vaguely like a beak. An oddly familiar hand cannon is at his hip and a large sword containing a blue crystal that crackles with arc energy is on his back. He is the same in height and stature as myself. I peer in surprise and address him.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

He says nothing but removes his helmet, placing it on the black stone floor beside him. He looks up to reveal a red head with short cut hair, light freckles, and piercing green eyes.

"You don't recognize me? I'm a little offended honestly. I figured you would show yourself some respect even if you don't to anyone else."

I remove my own helmet and snarl at the being before me.

"You are some kind of illusion! You insult me gods, show yourselves!"

"There's no one else here, only me, or us. I'm not really sure what terminology to use."

"You are not real. You are a mockery and you will lead me to the gods or die."

I summon a fireball in my right hand. The being raises his.

"Fine, fine there is only one way to prove it. I know what we did before the collapse. We alerted the darkness to the travelers location. Our tampering sent a signal to it's enemies that helped them find earth. We helped cause the collapse and were gunned down by earthen soldiers for our mistake."

I extinguish the fireball and look with confusion and wonder as he continues.

"We both know that you, we, whatever, would never tell that to anyone."

I respond.

"Very well. Then what are you exactly?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? (I guess the hive really did mess with your brain). We're the same person."

"Assuming I believe you, how would you know where I would be?"

"I saw you build this portal in a dream, I saw your intentions and knew I had my chance."

"You saw me in a dream?"

"Yeah, nor is it the only thing I've seen. Almost every night I see myself commanding the hive, performing rituals, or worst of all: killing my friends. I always wake up in a cold sweat and then will Stacie reassure me it was just a dream and tells me to go back to sleep. I thought at first I was going crazy but then I saw you constructing the portal and knew I had to find out, so I went to the one on the Dreadnaught and entered. I now guess your like some kind of alternate version of me or maybe I've just finally lost it."

"When did you start having these dreams? And what is the Dreadnaught?"

"Don't expect me to remember that far back, I think it was like around when we put that Skolas guy down. The first thing I really saw was, I guess you, coming back after Crota's oversoul burnt you like an overcooked turkey. Oh and the Dreadnaught? That's Oryx's ship. Boy was that guy pissed after we killed half of his guys and ruined his plans."

"That was when my visions began. I saw you defeating Skolas and then snatches of you fighting various foes. I presume you were seeing into my dimension while I saw into yours. We somehow must have become linked when I was reborn as a god."

"You kinda have that whole God complex thing dontcha? Ok so we are seeing into each other's universe glad we got that down. The only remaining question is where do our universes split?"

"If we are two assume we are from two parallel universes then the causalities leading to our dimensional differentiations could be, and is most probably an infinitesimally small event or shift."

"Well you're in luck, I'm one of like six people in the whole tower who could follow that. I get what your saying: it doesn't have to be a big difference in our realities, it could be any small thing. See you don't have to sound smart in front of yourself we both know you/we can follow theoretical (well I guess they're not now) quantum physics. But I would argue that our differences might be less insignificant than you might think."

"Then what do you believe it could be?"

"Well seeing how our pasts are the same we have to start from when we were brought back by the traveler."

He proceeds to list events to which I acknowledge them taking place until we reach Javs "death". He then speaks.

"Wait so your Jav did what?"

"He faked his death in the Hellmouth's tunnels. He made no effort to recontact me for almost a year while he was on Europa, he merely spend it training and studying an unrelated enemy. He made me believe he had died and neglected all he held dear for the sake of his own interests. It is this which led me to embrace the only path to our true survival."

My other self was surprised to say the least.

"Damn, I knew Jav could be a selfish dick sometimes but wow. My Jav was trapped there to, but he rigged up a distress beacon from that old base and we found him. That was the first time he truly used the light."

"Then this is the point of divergence."

"Yeah I guess it is. Cause after we got him back the Hive started calling to me, but I told Jav and he set me up on this fireteam. Along with him we decided the best plan was to go to the hive and accept their "gift" but spring a trap before I fully accepted it. The plan worked and we destroyed the servants of Crota. Soon after we found Crota's whereabouts and killed him. Then the house of wolves rebelled, then Oryx came to try and finish us off himself. We had to claim new power to beat him and I subsequently became the first of a new Warlock order: the Stormcaller."

"Your defeat of Crota accelerated your timeline, causing events to happen before ours did and giving me the illusion of seeing into the future."

"Exactly."

My fists tighten in anger.

"Then Jav was the key all along. The "light's chosen bearer" his selfishness brings ruin to all he touches, this above all else justifies my crusade. I will destroy him along with everything and everyone he holds dear. And in his dying breath he will know it was his own actions that will lead to their deaths. For this I thank you, my mission to Europa will now serve two purposes. If I am seen by the tower he will surely come to confront me and it will be on the frozen wastes of Europa that I will end him!"

I turn to exit through my portal, but a hand on my shoulder stops me.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. I refuse to watch you kill another one of my friends."

Turning I sneer.

"But they're not your friends. They are not from your universe."

"They bear the same names, faces, and personalities. I can't just leave and watch as they're killed by your/my rage and misguided sense of morality. They are innocent and as a guardian it is my duty to defend and protect the earth and her people from threats like you. But it's not too late, there is another path. Return to the tower, reconnect with your friends and find yourself Ben. Come back to the light it's not too late."

"No this is the only path on which we survive. Perhaps we began the same but I have found our true path, yours will lead to ruin while mine leads to ascension."

He puts himself between me and my exit portal. I reply.

"Get out of my way."

"You know, you're right. We're not the same you died a long time ago in Crota's fire. You're not the path to our salvation, you're what could have, a shadow of what might have been. You're nothing more than a dead man I see in my dreams."

"Stand aside, final warning."

"Well if words won't convince you to stop hurting everyone around you, then I guess I'm gonna have to do it by force!"

He knocks me away from the doorway with a bolt of lightning. I fly across the room and slam into the opposing wall. He draws his hand cannon and makes a smartass remark.

"I'm not gonna lie that was oddly satisfying."

"You will pay for that."

I get to my feet and draw the Word but he fires first knocking it out of my hand. He follows it up with two shots to my legs. He then proceeds to twirl the gun around his finger.

"Suck it Jace! I told you the classics are still the best. I don't care what new Häkke model comes out, I'm sticking with my trusty old Devil you Don't."

"It is a fine model."

"See even my hive crazed other dimensional self agrees."

In his momentary distraction I hit him hard with a blast of my fire. I summon my sword, the green mist becoming its large, fearsome blade. Landing near his helmet he dons it drawing his own sword.

"Alright if it's a sword fight you want then let me introduce you to Bolt Caster!"

He swings the sword unleashing a disk of pure arc energy barreling straight towards me. I attempt to dodge but it collides electrocuting my armor and destroying my flesh. My fire immediately goes to work and begins repair but he is already upon me and plunges his sword through what remains of my chest, pinning me to the wall. I speak through a half destroyed face.

"I thought you've seen me fight. Did you truly think this would kill me? I have transcended the shackles of the mort-"

He pulls his hand cannon and fires three shots directly into my face cutting me off.

"Boy I really do talk a lot don't I."

My jaw partially hanging off the only noise I can make is a gargled growl as I punch him with all my strength. As he falls back I pull the sword out of my chest, holding it in my left and I grab my sword with my right. I approach him, channeling all my power into healing my wounds. I sneer.

"You don't stand a chance."

"I don't really care asshole."

He pulls twin silenced sidearms. They are a dark green with the symbol of the Iron Banner. I slash towards him with both swords. He glide-jumps over me leading into a backflip as he peppers me with solar shots. He follows up with a strong kick to the back causing me to fall to the floor.

I turn to get back up to see a ball of lightning coming towards me. As it collides it causes multiple bolts of lightning to strike me and my surroundings.

"Yeah lightning never strikes the same place twice bitch. Crap that was horrible let me get back to you when I figure something else out."

"ENOUGH!"

I unleash a blast of energy throughout the room knocking him against the wall. I rush over and grab him by the throat.

"I have run out of patience with you."

"You're out of patience with yourself? You might want to see a therapist."

"RRRAGHH!"

I throw him across the room. He glides to slow his impact.

"You call yourself a Stormcaller, but all you've done is cast some arc energy. That's not special, I too possess that ability."

I fire my lightning. He grunts in pain and falls to his knees as it strikes him. I continue.

"I see no storm, no true power. You say you are the first of a new order of warlock, I can clearly see why they're weren't any prior to you."

He suddenly begins to stand somehow resisting my assault.

"So it's a storm you want? Then get ready to hear the thunder!"

He glides above me and releases a burst of arc energy around him and fires a single lightning bolt down staggering me as it hits. He drops down, his whole body charged with electricity. He lands in front of me and I fire a blast of flame towards him but he vanishes with an electric crackle. I turn around to see him and he speaks.

"You want power? I give you UNLIMITED POWER!"

He releases a torrent of electricity from his fingertips. It fries me yet again I stumble backwards casting a wall of darkness. The onslaught stops suddenly but he reappears on the side and continues.

"Miss me?! Told you I'd have a good one, that thunder thing was decent!"

While shocking me with one hand he picks up his sword. He swings downwards I summon my sword and parry his strike. He hits me with what appears to be the last of lightning, temporarily blinding me as he hits my face. My ability to summon offensive blasts is limited due to the need to heal my body. When my vision returns moments later I see his strike separate my right arm from my body. There is no blood or pain as I no longer have need for them, but I feel the kinetic impact as the sword hits and my arm hit the floor.

"Insert your own disarming joke here, mine just kinda suck. Ok man I've cut off your arm shocked you with enough power to take out an entire cabal battalion, and shot you multiple times. As I see it my power is fairly kickass meaning your way isn't the only one that leads to our survival. Just stop what you're doing and go back to the tower, to your friends, don't make me watch you kill everyone."

I pick up my fallen arm and shove it back in its socket where the dark fire burns it back in place. I rush forward griping him by the throat faster than he can react. Holding my burned and battered face to his I hiss.

"No I will continue down my road. I will kill all of them and I will leave to see their faces of terror and despair as I destroy them. You will be my witness."

"No I won't let you!"

"And after my universe kneels before me I will come for yours."

I pick him up and throw him through his portal.

After reclaiming the word and my helm I turn to see his portal disappear obvious closed from the other side to prevent my entry. With a final look I renter my universe.

Outside is a knight general waiting in front of my guards. He speaks with anticipation.

"My lord did you find the gods? Can your armies storm their realm?"

I incinerate him.

"No one is to disturb me."

A few hours later after I proceed to my trophy room. All my wounds healed and recharged with hive magics I approach it's dim lit room. Opening a hidden chamber I remove what used to be my sunbreaker gauntlets. No longer are they pulsing with solar fire but with hive magic. The gauntlets I have worked on for quite some time are now conduits for hive energies increasing my magic and spell potential. In addition they can absorb power from those I fight owing to their name: the Soulbreakers. I put them on, strap the word to my hip and proceed out of the Hellmouth. With a final word to my guards I summon my wings and fly to Europa.

I am headed for the dead God, I am headed for Jav.

**Note: the next chapter of this story takes place after chapter 23 of a new tale. If you have not read up to that point in both stories the chapter will not make as much sense.**


	8. Old Friends Part 2

**Note: this chapter takes place after chapter 23 of A New Tale read that chapter first before reading this one.**

When Jav's blinding light dissipates I am alone. I appear to be in some kind of abandoned hangar, wounded and battered more than ever before. I stumble to my feet and tap into the power reserves of the Soulbreakers to asses my situation.

The places where Jav's sword had struck were not healing, at least not fully. The cuts pulsate with the long forgotten sensation of pain, the worst coming from the gash on my chest. I look at my left hand and see the missing fingers. A dark crimson liquid drips from their stubs, as the viscous liquid hits the floor I realize what he's done. Jav's blade is fueled by the light, which can resurrect and heal, thus his power appears to bring parts of me back to life causing pain in the process. He may have found a way to destroy me, I must be more careful.

I cauterize the wound to minimize the bleeding and yell to him as my armor reforms.

"Hiding will do you no good. It will only prolong your suffering, come and face your fate oh bearer of light."

His voice comes from behind a metal door on the far side of the room.

"You may have had the home field advantage there but here..."

I rush over and rip open the door to see a room full of weapons and the barrel of a cabal tank pointed at me.

"... You're fucked!"

The tank round hits hard, tearing away at my flesh and causing pain in my living wounds. I slam against the other side of the hanger singed and battered. My fire begins healing and I quickly dodge the machine gun bolts from the front of the tank. With a loud explosion the wall on the far side of the hanger and explodes as the tank emerges from the rubble.

I summon my sword and rush the tank as mines are released. He fires another round from the main cannon which flies over my right shoulder as I dodge. I jump on top of the tank, slicing the machine guns off. Stabbing the hull I rip open a hole to the cockpit which I realize too late is empty. Turning over my left shoulder, I try to rest the sword from his grasp but he is far faster and stabs me in the shoulder. The pain is immense and in my distraction he kicks me into the open cockpit filled with explosives.

"Damnit Ben, I always liked that tank."

He fires an explosive round from a hand cannon and I unleash a blast of energy to no avail as he blinks away. The tank and the mass of explosives erupt, ripping apart the hanger. Being at the center of the explosions I am incinerated but supercharge my power and reconstitute. Jav blinks back in front of me, armed with two auto rifles. I remove my helm, throwing it to the floor with a soft clunk. Then I speak.

"Look upon the face of your failure personified Javael. I am everything you made me to be."

"You're fucking insane! I didn't make those choices for you! I didn't go and tell you to murder your friends! This is all on you Ben, don't try and blame me for your actions."

I let my anger rise as I retort.

"I have seen into other worlds, Jav, other realities and universes. Specifically a universe where I had never taken this power and remained with the team. The sole difference between that world and ours was you. In that reality you found a way to contact the tower from Europa as you were more focused on your partner and team than your own interests."

"That's bullshit! There was no way to contact you, I tried!"

"Then why were you able to do so in the exact same scenario."

"Ben I tried the best I could and maybe it wasn't enough but you still accepted the dark and became evil all by yourself."

"Not according to the universe where you did try. I am your creation. You found me, trained me, introduced me to this world, and used me as an excuse to go off and fiddle around with your newfound gimmick. I am the shadow your actions have cast, always right behind you, a constant remind of your failure."

"Maybe I have failed in the past but I accept responsibility for my actions and that's something you apparently can't do. But if you are my shadow then I guess it's time to turn on the light and get rid of it once and for all."

He fires the rifles in a hail of bullets. They rip through my body as I ignite my wings and rush towards him. Superheating my hands I grasp the rifles, liquefying them in the process. Dropping the melting metal he flips backward kicking me in the jaw. I redirect fire my and blast him back right after his kick collides. I continue walking toward him.

"You forget that a shadow is only visible when the light shines."

I cast multiple walls of darkness horizontally around his neck and limbs, pinning him to the wall. I speak while building my strength.

"Now it's time for the shadow to overtake the flickering light and plunge the universe into darkness."

I draw my sword and continue.

"After you die I will kill all you held dear: the queen and all your little friends. That little girl Slivia will then know that I was right all along as I torture her to the brink of death until finally I rip out her heart to make her into a servant of my will."

Jav's face contorts with rage under his helmet as white glow surrounds him.

"NO ONE ELSE WILL SUFFER BECAUSE OF YOU!"

In an explosion of searing, white hot energy, Jav shatters the walls. I immediately thrust the sword towards the center of the light as my arms are burned by its power. However my blade pierces only the wall. I sense an attack and dodge Jav's sword just in time and follow up with a fire bolt. He blocks the bolt with his sword as I cast a quick spell. My sword returns to its misty state and flows into tendrils that attempt to bind him. He slices at the mist and pulls a sidearm from his back. He fires six shots interrupting my spell and causing the mist to dissipate completely.

"Can't do your magic without focus right?"

I snarl in response.

"I don't need it to kill you."

I summon wings and fly forward as fast as possible knocking him off balance. I grab his helmet in my right hand and begin to smash it repeatedly against a metal support beam. His helmet cracks immediately under my strength as blood sprays from under the mask. I angrily continue to slam him against the beam again and again without mercy. He grunts in pain and in my rage I miss his energized sword piercing my stomach. Once again the pain is nearly unbearable as new nerve endings form and fire in agony. As Jav pulls his sword out he shoves a grenade in my face and kicking me back.

"Chew on that bitch."

I stumble back as the arc explosion obliterates my face. When my eyes reform I see him removing his broken helmet. He winces in pain as shards of the mask scrape his face. With the helmet gone I see the brown, slightly messy hair and deep blue eyes of my former friend. Various cuts of varying depth adorn his face and the right side in particular is badly bruised and bloody. His body slightly shimmers as the light courses through him. Pulling the hood of his cloak around him, he speaks.

"Well no more hiding behind our helmets, guess we have to kill each other face to face."

He steps backward into a hallway connected to the hangar, taunting me as he goes. I follow, channeling fire into hands. I grit my teeth and release my energy. Jav quickly shouts an odd phrase.

"Uptown Sector 115!"

Immediately a metal blast door closes in between us, blocking my fire. I superheat my hands and rip the door open. I see Jav running down the long hall shouting more code phrases.

"Area 51 authorized user Javael, initiate protocols Internal Harm65 and Black7Out!"

Machine gun turrets come out of the walls, a green gas begins to seep across the floor, and more doors close. I throw up a wall to prevent more damage. He knows this base far better than I do, my next step must be to remove us from it. I summon my wings and fly through the blast doors at top speed, melting through them. One of the turrets hits me with an explosive void round throwing me off my path and into another blast door. Roaring with anger, I rip the turret out of the wall and hurl it through the door and into a laser grid on the other side. The grid divides the destroyed turret into 16 pieces as it passes through the crisscrossed beams.

As overtaxed as my power already is I can't simply fly through, so I electrify the beam generators causing them to overload and explode. A single door now separates me from him.

Normally I would prepare a tactical approach but I have had enough of him. Full of rage, I summon my sword, superheat it, and plunge it through the door. The metal immediately liquifies in a wide circle around the blade. I pull the sword out and quickly snap it to the side sending droplets of molten metal to the floor. Through the melted hole I see a small room with an elevator on the back wall and Jav holding a rocket launcher. Jav fires the launcher and I instinctively throw up a wall of darkness. Dissipating the wall I rush towards him and slice the launcher in half. He draws his glowing sword and front flips over me, raking it across my back as he flips.

I reel in pain and stumble forward. Jav follows up with a diagonal slash that I turn and block in the nick of time. We begin to trade blows far faster than any normal guardian. The sound of our swords colliding reverberates through the empty hall. No quips are exchanged, no witty comments made, we duel silently with bared teeth and eyes locked in determination, waiting for the other to falter.

Finally our blades lock diagonally as we both push against the other with all of our strength. Where the blades touch our energies collide as his blade of light and my saber of dark attempt to overcome the other. But in our battle of strength I am supreme, and gradually I back him into a corner.

He briefly glances to the wall on his left and he jumps up, boosts off the wall and straight towards me, slashing at my neck. I dodge and realize too late that wasn't his goal as he knocks the sword out of my grip. My sword dissolves and Jav cracks a smile while using the opportunity, begins slashing as fast as he possibly can. It takes all my effort to evade his strikes, and he still is able to cut me across my arms and chest.

He goes for an overhead slash, I manage to pin the sword between my open palms. Jav seems surprised at first and then pushes down with his blade. My palms immediately begin to burn from his sword's power. The combination of searing pain and keeping the blade in place force me to down on one knee. With my hands burnt almost to the bone I have to act quickly. With inhuman speed I sweep his legs. All his force and strength is behind the sword causing him to fall easily. I let go of his sword and summon a long, jagged, knife from the mist to stab his left lower thigh. He curses in pain while kicking me in the chin with his right leg.

"Fuck!"

Using the impact of his kick I roll to the side and get to my feet. I notice my jaw is broken and snap it back into place with a crunch. Wincing Jav pulls out the knife and tries to put pressure on the wound currently gushing with blood. Just as I hoped my knife pierced his femoral artery which will cause massive blood loss in addition to excruciating pain. If not stopped quickly he could bleed to death.

Jav pulls out a hand cannon from behind his back and empties all six shots in my skull before I can blast him. While reforming I see him push the side of the barrel on his gushing wound, the heat from the gun cauterizing it to some degree. He grabs his sword and stumbles to his feet, limping on his leg. I know not the extent of his healing abilities but it must be fairly powerful to keep him alive and conscious not to mention being able to stand. Slashing at my chest he starts to utter another code phrase as I cast a wall to deflect the sword.

"Initiate protocol 935 Safeg-"

My hand closes around his throat silencing him. Before he can react I throw him through the metal door and onto the top of the elevator. Grabbing the taut metal cable, he pulls himself to his feet.

"Your traps only delay the inevitable Javeal, nothing can save you from my wrath."

His battered face cracks a smile.

"We'll see."

As soon as I jump into the elevator shaft after him, he cuts the cable causing him to shoot up as the elevator on which I stand falls uncontrollably. While plummeting I manage to summon my wings and chase after my adversary. Two grenades fall from Jav as he ascends. The explosions throw me off slightly yet I still ascend at an unnatural speed. As we near the top of the shaft, Jav is within my grasp. Looking down he lets go of the cable, sword pointed downward. We collide and Jav plunges his blade into my back, sending all his power into my body. Our momentum carrying us, we smash through the ceiling and into the desert above.

I continue to ascend into the dark grey sky until his power is unleashed in a brilliant flash of pure energy. All goes white while the ground rushes up to meet us. In free fall all I can feel is agony from the massive holes in my back and the burns all along my body. With the pain from the wound distracting my senses I barely feel the impact with the ground. I see Jav out of the corner of my eye lying in the sand breathing heavily. What's left of my face looks to the sky as droplets of water begin to fall upon my exposed bone as I am immobilized by the pain. My Soulbreakers drained, my power weakened I am nearly helpless.

Jav stabs his sword into the ground and uses it to prop himself into a standing position. He stumbles towards me, sword in hand.

"Cmon Ben, stay down this time."

The rain picks up. A bolt of lightning flashes across the sky.

I cannot fail. Not after all I've been through, all I've faced. The pain, I must let it fuel my power, my rage. I will not fail.

Jav must die.

I close my eyes and let the darkness take me once again. The dark fire rejuvenates me for a final time. I have almost nothing left, so now it must end. I open my eyes and unleash the dark within, shooting Jav back. I fly up and begin to cast runes of fire that explode around him. He somehow still is able to dodge the runes weaving back and forth between them. I fly above him and blast the ground with pure dark energy, only hitting an afterimage. I continue to unleash bolts of darkness until my last bit of power is spent. Drained, I dissipate my wings and land on the ground in front of Jav. The downpour continues as I address my foe.

"Is the light truly that determined to keep you alive?"

"Not just the light, but the queen as well. You see that's what happens when you trust people, they help you out."

"What do you know of trust?! You abandon your supposed "friends" every time they need you! Your friends are fools if they truly believe that they can depend on you."

His face falls and a solemn look replaces the cocky anger momentarily.

"You're right. I failed, you, the queen, my friends, all of them. I've messed up, we both have. But that doesn't mean we can't have a second chance. See this?"

He gestures to his hood.

"This is my reminder of what I'm fighting for. It's a symbol of my duty to make things right by protecting earth as long as I live from threats like you. Ya see I've made peace with my past to ensure there is a future."

I begin to laugh. Confusion and anger adorn Jav's face.

"Are fucking serious? You're laughing at my cloak? I'm trying to tell you that there's still hope for you Ben, I'm giving you one last chance, which is more than you deserve."

"No I'm laughing at the irony of this moment."

"What?"

"Just as you resolve to save them, you abandon them in perhaps their most dire moment."

"The hell are you talking about?!"

"As we speak an army of united Eliksni houses, led by the Kell Skolas, assault the tower."

His mouth opens in utter shock.

"You-you're lying. You must be."

"Come now Jav you've known me long enough to tell when I'm lying. Even when I was trying to hide my emerging powers you knew I was keeping something secret. Look and see if I'm lying."

He glares with disbelief until he finally realizes the truth.

"My god, they're all gonna die the tower isn't prepare for something like this!"

In a state of concentrated panic he begins to glow.

"I have to save them while there's still time."

I hit him with the low power fireball I had been charging behind my back. His glow disappears as he is hit. I step forward.

"No! You have to let me stop this! I can't fail them again!"

"I don't think you understand the gravity of our situation Jav. This battle does not end until one of us perishes. If you leave I will follow and any chance the tower has of surviving is lost. Your only option is to-"

"-Kill you fast enough so I have time to save them."

"Exactly."

I summon a sword in either hand, their dark fire turning the rain to mist around them.

Jav grabs his sword with both hands as his body becomes illuminated. The glow moves from his body and into the blade, making it so bright it cannot be looked at directly. He snaps the katana to his right. His rage bringing him to the verge of tears, Jav snarls.

"This ends now, Ben."

"Then let us finish this once and for all."

For half a second the world seems to slow as we glare at the other.

When our swords collide the the world shakes. His katana holds up my twin blades in an overhead block. We break the grip and attack each other in a flurry of blows. Left, right, up, right diagonal, despite my extra weapon Jav is still able to match me blow for blow. My swords move in a whirlwind of hive steel and dark energy. After parrying his slash I kick him back against a nearby boulder. I attack his head with a twin scissor cut in an attempt to decapitate him, I slice the boulder in half horizontally as he ducks and follows with a diagonal cut to my chest. The cut glows with his power and pulsates with pain, distracting and angering me even further. I slash wildly with both blades as Jav lunges with a stab to my sternum catching me off balance. Sidestepping but disoriented, I manage to parry his following attack and go for the legs, slicing the knees with my right blade. I am too far away to take off his legs but the cut is still fairly deep and the bone is visible through the maroon haze of his blood. Jav grunts but continues attacking only at a slower pace with less movement due to the pain. I go for an overhead strike with my right only to lock blades with him. Smiling at his strained expression I swing my left blade to slice him in half. Amazingly he breaks the lock, and slashes left with a blur of his glowing sword followed by the sound of slicing flesh.

My left arm falls to the ground, severed at the elbow.

I stumble back and howl as I experience pain like I've never felt before. Jav stabs the severed arm and it explodes in a bright flash, reducing the limb to ash. My sword falls to the saturated dirt as I clutch the stump that was my left arm. Blood pours likes a river drenching my hand. Jav continues to attack and I desperately reach for my blade to attempt to block. Jav's blow knocks the sword out of my and he quickly slices the front of my chest, tearing off even more of my armor. Obviously fatigued and injured Jav still manages to stab me in my lower stomach. My right hand moves on pure instinct and shatters his left arm before he can pull out the sword. Without thinking I rip to sword out and get to my feet.

My head feels clouded, my body experiencing crippling pain. I am dying.

Jav awkwardly picks up his katana. If I am to fall it will not be through surrender or submission, I will continue to fight until the moment of my death. I grab my sword and approach him. My blood mixes with the rain creating a red river behind me as I move. Thunder booms. We battle once more parrying each other's blows. I pour my last bit of strength onto the hits until his blocks falter. For half a second Jav's body is open, I take the advantage, slicing down diagonally. A huge but shallow gash appears on his chest as he cries out in pain. I manage to knock the katana from his grasp, the force causing him to fall onto the soaked ground my robes in his fist. I fall on top of him, flipping my sword around. Jav pounds on my body with his fists. A bolt of lightning flashes through the sky.

I plunge my sword down into his heart.

His eyes widen, his hands against the blade.

My sword dissolves as my magics give out. The hole in his chest remains.

A trickle of blood comes from his mouth as he speaks in a pained voice.

"Good one Benny boy."

He coughs up blood and then gives a weak smile.

"You're strong... You always have been. I can see why Stacie liked you. Since I couldn't talk you out of your delusions. Maybe... Maybe she still can..."

He coughs violently again as light begins to flow out of Jav's body.

"The tower will survive. It always does, but I'm sure you already knew that. You need them Ben, I've known you longer than anyone and I know that you will need them eventually."

The light's flow got slowly as it was sucked away by an unseen force, the last bit of light dissipating up into the air.

" I can tell when you're lying, you're right, I wonder if you can tell when I am... You're still my friend, and despite all you've done she still loves. You... you still have the same green eyes from the day I met you. You are still the same guy a found back in Russia somewhere in there, find him again. You can change..."

As he coughs once again he gives a small smile as a trail of blood dribbles down his chin.

"Peace Out... Scout."

His eyes close as he breathes his last.

The rain continues to fall around me as I stare down at the lifeless body. My left arm continues to bleed, mixing with the rain and Jav's blood creating a red pool around us.

Silently I pick up Jav's katana, still burning to my touch and use what I have left to cast a quick spell, sending to a another place.

I wrap his cloak around him as I hear the opening of a slip space portal. Ships bearing the queens symbols hover above me. Too weak to fight back, I stay still while observing his body as they extend red tractor beams to bind and lift me into the air. Before I am teleported to my cell I look down and whisper.

"Goodbye, my friend."


End file.
